Disney’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Ride Takes Place in Its Own Marvel Universe

Guardians of the Galaxy—Mission: Breakout! is the first Marvel themed ride to hit a U.S. Disney theme park. The plot: visitors must help the Guardians escape from the Collector’s fortress, in which they’ve been imprisoned. The ride was built within the repurposed Tower of Terror and features six unique ride experiences and a hallway full of Marvel Easter eggs. It’s also part of its very own Marvel universe, separate from the movies.

Thanks to a comprehensive report from io9, we know that the Guardians will all appear on the ride as they do in the movies, but they won’t be beholden to the MCU’s chronology. For example, the ride features Mantis as an established Guardian, but Groot is still a baby. There will also be a few cameos from other characters that don’t exactly line up with the movies. Joe Rohde, a creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, explained:

It is distinctly meant to be its own universe. The universe will grow and expand and there are elements in there that will link to a dimensional universe. We really tried to not simply reflect on an existing narrative but to extend narrative and expand it.

It’s a whole new story. The idea that you have the Collector and you have all these other characters that showed up in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and other portions of other films, and other things that go on across the Marvel Universe, it’s a whole story unto itself.

That’s pretty standard practice as far as rides like these go. One can find plenty of inconsistencies from film to ride in a lot of Disney theme parks, that’s just how rides based on movies work. That said, the Easter egg portion of the building — the hallway where you stand in line for the ride, which is filled with the Collector’s boxes of various Marvel artifacts — will be updated as the movies progress, with new pieces added to correspond with new releases.

Rohde said there’s also a reason that the Guardians were chosen as Marvel’s first American Disney ride, as opposed to any of the Avengers:

There’s something about Guardians of the Galaxy. There’s an energy to it. There’s an irreverence to it. It’s really useful because it just comes out of nowhere. Some of those hero brands have a different vibe about them. This is something that can come out of nowhere and basically install itself with an atmosphere of fun.